Day trip and Italy part 1
(written 10/26)
The day trip was great. First we went to Kloister Neuburg (monastary new castle) which was very very close. We could smell the wine fermenting 30 meters below during parts of the tour. We saw some interesting art and old furniture and rooms designed for use by the Hapsburgs that they never ended up using. Among the art we saw: some cool enamel things arranged as an alter that are so significant they had a 5 min video about them, some statues, especially fo the virgin, that were nearly 8-900 years old, two original roman citizenship documents which are really rare cause you only got them if you survived being a soldier for 20 years and of course not many of the documents themselves survived (the monastary was built near roman ruins), two paintings of some saint being stabbed that are so subtle it's like a "what's wrong with this picture" thing, and I'm sure there were other significant items but I was very hungry and tired by the end of it and sometimes churches just get to be too much. Oh and a million and one illusions in art and decoration to the legend of the monastary's church or whatever, basically some prince guy's bride's really expensive veil blew off the night of the wedding and they thought they'd never see it again. Then a year or two later he was hunting in the nearby hills and he saw this shining thing in an elderbury bush. And it was the veil. And then the virgin appeared, so he built a church there. I love how all these random legends end with "and then the virgin appeared to him." After eating we went to this guy's private castle. How cool is that? Its not real, in the sense that many of the items were acquired and weren't original to the castle, but are all period pieces, and it was really cool. 600 year old books, seals that people used instead of signatures, old furniture, stuffed birds, random gargoyles and people being eaten in statues up in the corners of rooms, the kitchen... Finally we went to a winery, a little family place, which is really cool because they have resisted the urge to consolidate and dealt with the EU and profit issues by going directly to the end-consumer. The owner's brother guided us through the vineyards (had a few grapes off the vine), a wine tasting (probably 5 different kinds? kind of lost track down in the basement with the barrels), and gave us info about making wine. Then the owner's wife made us an amaaaazing delicious dinner. Sadly the next day I was feverish and didn't go on the other day trip (which had a similar agenda: monastary, caslte (albeit the one Richard the Lionhearted of England was held in for randsom that was then used to refortify the city's walls thus saving Vienna and perhaps all of Western Europe from falling to the Turks), and wine tasting. I heard the food wasn't as good. Luckily after telling me they couldn't, they ended up giving me my money back.
So here I am in Venice on my 4 day mini-break. It's Thursday night. Last night I had my first ever night train experience. My reserved ticket was right on the aisle of the cabin, and the cabin was the one right at the end of the train by the bathroom and exit. Not so loud with the door closed, I thought, except that I woke up every single time the train stopped and people got on and off. Night trains are not comfortable. The one back to Vienna will be even less because I could only get a center seat; no walls to lean against. My only hope is that like last time there is some sort of noshow by the window, except this time I move into it instead of staying put. Redeeming the whole experience was the fact that it cost me 5 euro. No, not 5 euro plus 1/6 of the price of my Eurail pass, because I had no clue what to do with the thing and the conductor didnt ask for it so it is still blank. I'm gonna use the extra day to save myself 30 euro Sat. when I travel to the other coast. Anyway I tired myself out even more waiting 30+ min for the hostel to open (despite the sign that said they opened before my train got in) and then took off with their very helpful walking trail around the city. I decided to head for the furthest point and track back. Well, leaving my huge Lonely Planet with its decent map had its benefits, but the map the hostel gave me can only roughly be called a map. Before I could even get the the farthest point I was hopelessly lost many times. The thing about Venice that is really annoying is that there are all these cute narrow winding streets but they end up bringing you to a river with no bridge. So then you know what direction you need to go in but by the time you turn around and find another street to go down you have lost it again. Also there are many dead-ends, none marked, so you walk several blocks only to turn around and do it again. This was sometimes nice, as there are random things down dead end streets like 5-story tall winding brick towers with arches. Not having a map meant I saw a lot more of the city but it was frustrating at times. Tomorrow I'm getting one from the tourist info office. Eventually I found the Gugenheim and it was all worth it. The collection is small but amazing, with incredible statues and some really interesting futurism pieces I learned about in my Modern Art class last fall - plus one by Cara that was the topic of my term paper. Also my new favorite Picasso, called either "The Beach" or "On the Beach." And a Louis Vuitton briefcase that Duchamp made with miniatures of all his previous works inside. And a really cool statue of "young woman's profile" or something like that. I skipped the old old art at the Academia as I usually don't enjoy it much and can get my fill in churches. Speaking of, the Venetians lost 2 million to the plague and what did they do? They built a huge gaudy statue-ridden ornate humungous 2-domed church to show there gratitude that it ended having only killed that many. I wandered around by other churches, always very proud of myself when I found what I was looking for, and also sat in a square for more than an hour listening to a Bulgarian guy play classical guitar on a funny looking empty upside down collapsible guitar he'd disigned. I once again saw the Piazzo Marco with the largest, gaudiest, goldest church in the world and more pigeons than people. This was practically the only thing I saw on my 10th grade trip to Italy, and luckily I also got to do a gondola ride then because there's no way I could afford one.
The day trip was great. First we went to Kloister Neuburg (monastary new castle) which was very very close. We could smell the wine fermenting 30 meters below during parts of the tour. We saw some interesting art and old furniture and rooms designed for use by the Hapsburgs that they never ended up using. Among the art we saw: some cool enamel things arranged as an alter that are so significant they had a 5 min video about them, some statues, especially fo the virgin, that were nearly 8-900 years old, two original roman citizenship documents which are really rare cause you only got them if you survived being a soldier for 20 years and of course not many of the documents themselves survived (the monastary was built near roman ruins), two paintings of some saint being stabbed that are so subtle it's like a "what's wrong with this picture" thing, and I'm sure there were other significant items but I was very hungry and tired by the end of it and sometimes churches just get to be too much. Oh and a million and one illusions in art and decoration to the legend of the monastary's church or whatever, basically some prince guy's bride's really expensive veil blew off the night of the wedding and they thought they'd never see it again. Then a year or two later he was hunting in the nearby hills and he saw this shining thing in an elderbury bush. And it was the veil. And then the virgin appeared, so he built a church there. I love how all these random legends end with "and then the virgin appeared to him." After eating we went to this guy's private castle. How cool is that? Its not real, in the sense that many of the items were acquired and weren't original to the castle, but are all period pieces, and it was really cool. 600 year old books, seals that people used instead of signatures, old furniture, stuffed birds, random gargoyles and people being eaten in statues up in the corners of rooms, the kitchen... Finally we went to a winery, a little family place, which is really cool because they have resisted the urge to consolidate and dealt with the EU and profit issues by going directly to the end-consumer. The owner's brother guided us through the vineyards (had a few grapes off the vine), a wine tasting (probably 5 different kinds? kind of lost track down in the basement with the barrels), and gave us info about making wine. Then the owner's wife made us an amaaaazing delicious dinner. Sadly the next day I was feverish and didn't go on the other day trip (which had a similar agenda: monastary, caslte (albeit the one Richard the Lionhearted of England was held in for randsom that was then used to refortify the city's walls thus saving Vienna and perhaps all of Western Europe from falling to the Turks), and wine tasting. I heard the food wasn't as good. Luckily after telling me they couldn't, they ended up giving me my money back.
So here I am in Venice on my 4 day mini-break. It's Thursday night. Last night I had my first ever night train experience. My reserved ticket was right on the aisle of the cabin, and the cabin was the one right at the end of the train by the bathroom and exit. Not so loud with the door closed, I thought, except that I woke up every single time the train stopped and people got on and off. Night trains are not comfortable. The one back to Vienna will be even less because I could only get a center seat; no walls to lean against. My only hope is that like last time there is some sort of noshow by the window, except this time I move into it instead of staying put. Redeeming the whole experience was the fact that it cost me 5 euro. No, not 5 euro plus 1/6 of the price of my Eurail pass, because I had no clue what to do with the thing and the conductor didnt ask for it so it is still blank. I'm gonna use the extra day to save myself 30 euro Sat. when I travel to the other coast. Anyway I tired myself out even more waiting 30+ min for the hostel to open (despite the sign that said they opened before my train got in) and then took off with their very helpful walking trail around the city. I decided to head for the furthest point and track back. Well, leaving my huge Lonely Planet with its decent map had its benefits, but the map the hostel gave me can only roughly be called a map. Before I could even get the the farthest point I was hopelessly lost many times. The thing about Venice that is really annoying is that there are all these cute narrow winding streets but they end up bringing you to a river with no bridge. So then you know what direction you need to go in but by the time you turn around and find another street to go down you have lost it again. Also there are many dead-ends, none marked, so you walk several blocks only to turn around and do it again. This was sometimes nice, as there are random things down dead end streets like 5-story tall winding brick towers with arches. Not having a map meant I saw a lot more of the city but it was frustrating at times. Tomorrow I'm getting one from the tourist info office. Eventually I found the Gugenheim and it was all worth it. The collection is small but amazing, with incredible statues and some really interesting futurism pieces I learned about in my Modern Art class last fall - plus one by Cara that was the topic of my term paper. Also my new favorite Picasso, called either "The Beach" or "On the Beach." And a Louis Vuitton briefcase that Duchamp made with miniatures of all his previous works inside. And a really cool statue of "young woman's profile" or something like that. I skipped the old old art at the Academia as I usually don't enjoy it much and can get my fill in churches. Speaking of, the Venetians lost 2 million to the plague and what did they do? They built a huge gaudy statue-ridden ornate humungous 2-domed church to show there gratitude that it ended having only killed that many. I wandered around by other churches, always very proud of myself when I found what I was looking for, and also sat in a square for more than an hour listening to a Bulgarian guy play classical guitar on a funny looking empty upside down collapsible guitar he'd disigned. I once again saw the Piazzo Marco with the largest, gaudiest, goldest church in the world and more pigeons than people. This was practically the only thing I saw on my 10th grade trip to Italy, and luckily I also got to do a gondola ride then because there's no way I could afford one.
posted by trude at
11:13 PM
1 Comments:
When Gma and I went to Venice, we were escorted by a porter off the boat and to our pensione. Then, it was the most beautiful light on Piazza San Marco, so we rushed back there and just sat and enjoyed the light. But then, we couldn't find our way back to the Pensione. All those twisty streets and dead-ends and places without bridges over the canals. We found it eventually, though. Your description reminded me of getting lost in Venice 27 years ago. I guess everyone does it.
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Anonymous, at 12:23 AM
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